Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany, also known as the Third Reich, or the Greater German Reich, was the period of Germany from 1925 to 1945 when the country was ruled by Adolf Hitler and the Fascist Nazi Party. Under this regime, Germany was transformed into a Fascist state and the Nazis held a totalitarian control over nearly all aspects of life. Nazi Germany immediately became a very strong and powerful country with a highly aggressive doctrine. Under Nazi leadership, the Germans created a massive empire that controlled most of Europe and much of North Africa, and even large parts of India and the Middle East, then kept fighting hard to hold these lands. The key feature of Nazi society was that ethnic Germans were the purest form of the Aryan race, and therefore, Germans were superior to others. The Nazi regime came to an end when Germany was defeated at the end of World War II in 1945. History Reign of Nazism After the end of World War I, turmoil erupted in Germany, leading to poverty and political disarray. This leads to Communist rebels getting in clashes with the Weimar government. This also leads to a new political party called the Nazis, lead by Adolf Hitler, to rise in the country. Using political manipulation, bullying and rigging to win elections, Hitler and his Nazi party became the rulers of Germany in 1925, with Hitler merging the offices of Chancellor and President into one office, while placing himself in that position and ensuring he held all powers in Germany. Once Hitler and the Nazis came to power in 1925, Germany was transformed into an extreme Fascist totalitarian state ruled by a dictatorship that held extremely harsh and strict control over the lives of their subjects. The Nazis created an extremely strong and powerful Germany, creating a very heavy industry and greatly raising the standard of living for Germans, creating substantial amount of jobs, housing and food for the people. However, the Nazis still held extremely tight control over them, and enacted strict censorship, and enacted harsh prison camps and executions for political prisoners. The Nazis also enforced their discriminatory laws, aimed decisively at Jews and Slavs, creating a hostile environment for Jews and Communists, as well as inspiring heated German nationalism. Most importantly, the Nazis built very heavily in the military, creating one of the world's strongest and most powerful armies in the world. In 1934, Nazi Germany created a very strong alliance with Imperial Japan, another equally militarily aggressive and incredibly racist nation, and they started to begin their campaigns of conquest. Since the Nazis took power, Germany initially shared a very close and extremely strong relationship with China, with Germany providing great industrial, economic and military help to the Chinese. The Germans also helped effectively train 20 divisions in the Chinese army along German lines and supplying them with German helmets, weapons and equipment. However, that relationship collapsed as Germany chose to effectively side with Japan. In late 1936, the Nazis seized Austria and Czechoslovakia, adding these new lands to their Reich. With heavy industry and military build up creating an extremely powerful military, Germany went on a warpath. World War II World War II began with the Imperial Japanese extremely brutal invasion of China in 1937. While the Japanese were invading China, as well as launching an incredibly brutal genocide of the Chinese, a month after the invasion into China, the Nazis launched Germany into the war as well, with the Germans invading France and seizing the country in just two months, then Germany declared war on Great Britain. Throughout the rest of 1937, German forces invaded and seize the rest of Northern and Western Europe and then conquered Italy, installing Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. In 1938, German forces invaded and seized overwhelmingly most of North Africa in vicious fighting, fiercely battling out British and French forces, and though the Germans conquered North Africa, they continued battling Allied forces remaining there. German forces then invaded the Middle East and India, seizing very large parts of them, but their offensives were halted by Allied defenses, so German forces continued fighting fiercely to defend and hold onto their massive territories in North Africa, the Middle East and India. With their Western enemies believed to be destroyed, the Nazis turned to Eastern Europe, invading Poland in 1939 and taking the country within a month, then the Nazis quickly overran and seized Eastern Europe and conquered the rest of Southern Europe. In mid 1939, now attempting to fulfill Hitler's greatest goal of the war, the Germans then invaded the Soviet Union, crushing any resistance in their path until they reached Moscow towards the end of the year. Along the way, the Nazis embarked on a genocidal campaign of the Russians, slaughtering tens of millions of Russian peoples. In early 1940, the German forces helped the Japanese invade India, but while they were fighting fiercely and seized many parts of the country, their offensives were halted, and fighting raged there until both Germany and Japan were forced to withdraw several years later. When the Japanese attacked the US Naval base of Pearl Harbor in 1940, Germany declared war on the United States. Throughout the early 1940, German forces kept fighting viciously in a series of fierce battles in North Africa, the Middle East and India, fighting very hard to hold onto their territories there. However, while large forces of Germans were fighting in the deserts and jungles of India, the Middle East and North Africa, the Nazis still committed most of their greatest forces in Russia. Despite immense German military strength, the Nazis failed to seize Moscow, and their offensive was finally crushed in the Battle of Stalingrad. From there the Nazis continued to resist the Soviet counterattacks, but as the war dragged on, the Soviet forces would firmly crush and destroy most of the German military and drive on towards Germany itself. While fighting in the siege of Leningrad, however, German forces capture most of Leningrad, then both German and SS troops engage in savagely killing hundreds of thousands of Russian civilians in the city. Eventually, German forces were driven out of India and the Middle East from 1942 to 1943, but the Germans kept fighting very hard to hold onto their large North African empire. However, by late 1943, after much vicious fighting, the Germans were driven out of North Africa, but many Germans remained and continued fiercely resisting the Allies until shortly after the end of the War. The Nazis continued to commit most of their great forces to resisting the Soviets, but they were being crushed as Russia pushed on towards Germany. American, British and French forces then invaded Italy and Spain in late 1943 and, after much fierce fighting, seized both countries in 1944, though the Germans kept resisting the Allies in Italy and Spain for the rest of the War. The Allies then invaded France, but the Germans fought hard to hold onto the country, though the Allies finally liberated France in 1945. In 1945, while the Western Allies were still fighting in France, Italy and Spain, the Soviets finally pushed into Germany itself, and drove on towards Berlin. Though the Nazis fiercely resisted, the Soviets broke into Berlin, eventually capturing the city in a cataclysmic battle. Once the Soviets achieved victory, Hitler committed suicide and Germany surrendered, bringing an end to the Nazi regime. Post-Nazi Germany After the fall of the Nazi regime, and the surrender of Germany. After the surrender, as the Soviets occupied German land East of the Elbe River, the Americans, British and French went in and occupied all of the German land West of the Elbe. There, the Allies began a process of both rehabilitation and punishment for Germany. The Western Allies engaged in a process called De-Nazification, which reeducated the native peoples of Germany and made them starkly aware of the horrors and evils of the Nazi regime. As such, the Allies also tried Germany's war criminals at Nuremberg, handing death sentences out to the worst offenders. As for rehabilitation, the Western Allies introduced the Marshall plan, which greatly rebuilt Germany, creating foundations that would quickly enable Germany to become one of the strongest and most successful economies in the world. The Allies also introduced doctrines that recreated Germany into a stable and democratic society, all of these leading Germany to once again become a major world power. The Soviets, however, were much more harsh to the Germans, stripping factory machinery and food from the Germans and executing many high ranking Nazi officials. They also refused to allow the Marshall plan to have any effect in the German land under their occupation. As such, while all of Germany West of the Elbe River flourished again as a democratic country with a newly created and very strong army in 1955, the Germany East of the Elbe was constructed into a Communist country known as Soviet Germany. Because of the De-Nazification process, the Nazism sentiment has been made illegal in Germany, and thus, showing expressing sympathy or support for the Nazis, as well as any Nazi symbols, like the Sig Runes and Hakenkreuz, is now a criminal offense. Germany is also now a very close ally of the United States and Japan. Policies and Society As a rightist totalitarian Fascist country, Nazi society was one of very harsh and strict control over every aspect of life, and espousing heated German nationalism and superiority. Censorship was strict and everything was regulated by the Nazi party and their leader, Adolf Hitler. The Nazis also enacted harsh labor and prison camps and massive executions of political opponents while teaching very strict nationalistic indoctrination to the German peoples. The ruling Nazis made decisions for everything and punished anyone who disobeyed them. The Nazis created a very militaristic society, in which all peoples were expected to serve the military and the industry of the country. Even women, who the Nazis felt should have more traditional roles, were encouraged to serve in military and industrial sectors. The Nazis also fervently stamped out Communism and sought to eliminate any liberal or democratic ideals that threatened the party. German people were taught to greatly cherish German culture and Nazi ideals, and the Germans were heavily instructed to be very aggressive to their enemies and fully obedient to their leaders. One of the key elements of German society was racism and antisemitism. The Nazis greatly enforced the belief that ethnic Germans were superior to others, especially other peoples in Europe. Their belief encompassed the idea of Lebensraum, which stated that Germans should rule over others, and that Germany should grow in order for German people to gain strength and thrive. Antisemitism was reinforced heavily in Germany by the Nazis, and severe discriminatory laws were put in place, which barred Jews from owning businesses, entering certain places or marrying non-Jews, as well as other forms of persecution. Jews were often bullied and attacked in streets, and many were forced to leave the country, while Jews were forced to all live in very poor, dirty and dilapidated ghettos. At first, the Nazis wanted to remove Jews through bloodless, though still quite forceful means, with a few Nazis even considering a Zionist option to move Jews out of Germany to Palestine. However, not satisfied with this, the Nazis unanimously decided very firmly on an extremely nightmarish solution known as the Final Solution, in which millions of Jews were systematically exterminated. The Nazis also heavily discriminated against Russian Slavs, and when the Germans invaded Russia, the Nazis launched genocidal massacres against tens of millions of Russians. Black peoples were also seen as inferior, with the Nazis enforcing very strict segregation against black peoples and placing many of them in harsh internment camps. However, despite enforcing discriminatory laws against them, the Nazis didn't attempt to exterminate black peoples the same way they did with Jews. To a lesser extent, the Nazis also saw Arabs as inferior and initially placed restrictions on them, but as time went on, the Nazis came to see Arabs as valuable allies, greatly lessening restrictions on them. The Nazis were also very sympathetic to the Arab Liberation movement, with German troops greatly assisting Arab rebels in battle during the Middle East and North African campaigns, especially having German soldiers help Arab rebels fight to take Palestine and Sinai. Hitler also had very high admiration for Islam, the religion that most Arabs practiced. Chinese and Japanese peoples were seen by the Nazis as being almost equal to the Germans, leading to Germany having great relations with both Japan and China. The Germans greatly admired both the Chinese and Japanese and saw them as being similar enough to the German people to warrant an alliance, with the Nazis placing the Japanese, Chinese and Koreans on the same status as Western Europeans. The Nazis designated them both 'Honorary Aryans', leading to the Japanese and Chinese enjoying far more rights and privileges and much better treatment than others. The Nazis attempted to limit roles for women, attempting to relegate them to traditional roles at home. Thus, women began to lose work in favor of men, particularly in politics and academia. However, as World War II began, there became a great surge of German women working in industry, and many women also served in the German army, largely as combatants, usually due to manpower shortages. Ultimately, as the war progressed, the image of women being relegated to the home in Nazi Germany became a myth, despite some restrictions remaining. As for religion, the Nazis launched a campaign of religious persecution, with many Nazis expressing atheistic worship of the Nazi state and Aryan peoples to replace Christianity. Many churches were closed down or even burnt, religious texts were destroyed, and pastors and priests were bullied, arrested and persecuted. Though the Nazis often courted Christians in order to gain popular support, while also promoting the antisemitism that churches had preached to German peoples, the Nazis were still largely atheistic and heavily criticized and condemned Christianity, hoping to destroy Christian influence in Germany after the War. Military For the primary forces of Nazi Germany, see Wehrmacht For the political forces of Nazi Germany, see Schutzstaffel Villainy * One of the most infamous actions of Nazi Germany was the Holocaust, where the Nazis systematically exterminated over 6 million European Jews, either by exacting mass purges massacres of them, or rounding them up and sending them to special death camps to mostly be gassed to death, or worked to death. * Another famous Nazi genocide is the Nazis' attempted extermination of Russian peoples in their occupied territories. Nazi and German forces brutally killed over 20 million Russians, enacting widespread massacres, purges, destruction of villages and towns, executions and other mass killings that killed millions of Russian civilians. * The Germans also greatly mistreated Soviet POWs, often working them to death, torturing them and executing them, leading to a very high POW death rate. The Nazis also slaughtered over 6 million Poles as well. * Nazi troops also enacted vicious reprisals against entire villages suspected of aiding resistance or harboring Jews, as villages were burnt, torn down and ravaged and the inhabitants furiously beaten and massacred. * Nazi SS troops also committed a number of massacres and acts of torture against captured American, British and French troops. There were also reports of the Germans using poison gas against the Soviets. In Cimil's world Nazi Germany appears very commonly in franchises that have a World War II setting. They are almost always shown as villains, or at least antagonists of the story, and even those stories that take place from German viewpoint typically have their German characters distance themselves from Nazism. Nazi Germany is very commonly shown in the Call of Duty, Battlefield, Medal of Honor and Johnny Storm franchises, and even at points in the Halo and Steve N' Gregory franchises. 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